Charles wins Lanning Junior Golf title

West Plains native overall winner at Oak Meadow Country Club with even-par performance.

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By Dave Roberts

The Rolla Daily News - Rolla, MO

By Dave Roberts

Posted Jul. 18, 2013 at 8:10 PM
Updated Jul 18, 2013 at 8:16 PM

By Dave Roberts

Posted Jul. 18, 2013 at 8:10 PM
Updated Jul 18, 2013 at 8:16 PM

ROLLA, Mo.

The temperature was climbing Thursday afternoon at Oak Meadow Country Club.

But Ben Charles' game stayed even-par cool.

Charles, who will be a senior at West Plains High School this coming school year, fired a consistently strong even-par 70 in Thursday's final round to match his Wednesday par and win the annual Ken Lanning Junior Golf Tournament, held at OMCC and directed by the Missouri Golf Association (MGA).

The 140 score turned in by Charles was five strokes better than runner-up Mark Martin, who is a Ozark Conference rival of Charles from Rolla High School, in the boys' age 16-18 division. Martin shot 71-74-145 to take second while Licking High School all-state golfer Ian Barnes was third in the 16-18 division at 77-72-149.

Winning the boys' 14-15 age group was Jefferson City's Tanner Elder, who shot 148 while the boys' 12-13 winner was Gallatin's Jett Simmons with 150.